The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Azalea, botanically Rhododendron, hereinafter referred to as ‘STEWARD’. ‘STEWARD’ is an evergreen greenhouse-forcing type Azalea and may be used for outside landscape planting.
The new Azalea was discovered by the inventor in Charlottesville, Va. in a controlled, landscape planting of ‘Delaware Valley White’ Azaleas in 1974. The exact parentage of ‘STEWARD’ is unknown. Compared to plants of the white, single-flowered commercial cultivar ‘Delaware Valley White’ that is not patented, the new Azalea has white hose-in-hose flowers borne in trusses with some yellow-green flecking in the throat of the petals and green-yellow emerging buds.
Asexual reproduction of the new Azalea by hardwood, semi-hardwood and softwood vegetative cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Charlottesville, Va. since 1975 and in Wooster, Ohio since 1998 have shown that the unique features of this new Azalea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.